1. Field
The instant application relates generally to electrical apparatuses and more particularly, to a bus apparatus that is usable to connect circuit interrupters and other devices with circuits.
2. Related Art
Circuit interrupters of various types are generally known in the relevant art. For example, a circuit interrupter such as a circuit breaker may be placed within a circuit to open the circuit in the event of certain overcurrent conditions, under-voltage conditions, and other conditions such as fault conditions and the like. Each protected circuit typically will have its own circuit interrupter that is suited to the load and other conditions that are found in the circuit. Other devices such as thermostats, switches, and the like can also be connected with circuits.
While electrical systems that include such circuit interrupters and other devices have been generally effective for their intended purposes, they have not been without limitation. In particular, since each protected circuit must have its own circuit interrupter or be somehow connected with a circuit interrupter, and since a circuit that is intended to include a thermostat, a switch, or other such device must be electrically connected therewith, complex electrical installations often have large numbers of wires going in different directions in order to connect among electrical feed buses, circuit interrupters, other devices, and loads. The complexity of the wiring that is required to provide the connections often causes undesired complications when performing repairs or routine maintenance on such electrical installations. Such problems are exacerbated in applications that provide limited space and/or limited access to the wiring with which circuit breakers are connected, such as aerospace and marine applications and other applications. Further complexity is encountered when multiple power sources are involved with an electrical system, because the wires that are associated with each such power source typically must be physically segregated from the wires associated with the other power sources in order to avoid the potentially catastrophic results that may occur from unintended shorting between wires associated with different power sources. It thus would be desirable to provide an improvement to overcome the shortcomings of such electrical installations.